The Other Person
by agent cormac
Summary: The worst betrayal is when somebody you love, loves another. And in that situation all you want is revenge, which can have a different meaning when you live for ever...


Disclaimer: Paramount and Viacom own all things Trek, including DS9, the main characters thereof, the Defiant, etc. I only borrow their characters and settings. The stories are mine. Do not copy without including this disclaimer and my name. Do not post without permission.  
  
Parings Bashir/Ezri, Bashir/Garak (implied)  
  
Contains descriptions of Alternative Sexual practices.  
  
The Other Person  
  
She hadn't believed him when he had finally told her. Sure, she had heard the rumours but she hadn't thought that they where true. (Some of the rumours that had reached her ears about herself made her roll her eyes. Kira? Bondage? She fought for every damn moment of self-control and they thought that she would let anything dominate her? Fools!)  
  
He was supposed to be a genius, a decent and caring person, a healer! HE was a liar, a murderer, had worked to bring everything they had sworn to protect down! She though that with his revulsion with Section 31 after that run in with Sloan, surely he realised that all those "delightful anecdotes" that HE told had resulted in people disappeared or dead, in much the same way that Sloan had almost disposed of him? She thought that he'd made the connection. Couldn't he realise that HE was amoral thug? An antique, some thing to be forgotten about quickly or buried somewhere so he could no longer hurt anybody, a relic from a despicable, murderous regime that had finally, deservedly, been wiped out? HE should have died in the storming of the Command Centre on the Final Day, instead of Damar!  
  
He had claimed that he still loved her, that he would always, that he wanted to remain friends. She felt like laughing in his face! Why should she believe him now? It was just the HE had offered more, and that he wanted to help HIS world. That he was sure that she would find somebody... With that she had laughed. Who, she had sneered, Jake? Her first memory (Curzon's actually) of Jake was of him as a baby throwing up on her (his) new shirt and Ben's frantic look till she'd (he'd) laughed! He was practically her son! Quark? He knew (at least she thought he did) about how she felt about her family's business, what made him think that she could stand somebody else's! That's what a relationship with Quark would be, a relationship with his Bar! Worf? She may not be the greatest host of Dax but there was no way that she was going to be the one who would end the legacy. She may as well just shoot herself! Kira? Maybe that was why he was going? Maybe he believed those stupid rumours? She had laughed, a wild discordant sound, telling him that she wasn't her Mirror counterpart! She'd sworn at him then, calling him every name that she could remember, in every language she knew, a dark, wild look in her eyes. He'd been shocked, never realising how close to madness she'd always been, that her relationship with him had provided some bulwark of stability, something to give her a sense of normality. After 10 minutes she'd finally wound down. She fled then.  
  
When he saw her a few days later, shortly before he left, he had been relived to see that she appeared to be in total control of herself. Some of that was fear of a scene, some of it hope that she'd final accepted what was going to happen, some residual feelings for her.  
  
He was wrong. She wasn't in total control of herself. Somebody shared her eyes, muttering dark words about how easy it was to kill, and how to make them pay. She revelled in it, truly allowing Joran to come to the forefront for the first time. She hadn't cried or shown any emotion at all as he left, hadn't acknowledged him at all. She had her revenge to plan.  
  
For months she did nothing. She stuck to her routine, still seeing her patients, watching the other staff watch her. They'd murmured short messages of support for which she had perfunctorily thanked them. She then put in for leave, for a week or two, so she could supposedly see her brother in prison. Kira had agreed quickly, probably thinking that she needed the time to go somewhere and finally get over him, to relax and have some fun. She took a runabout, the Rhine, and did visit her brother (but not her mother) for a few days. She then went to Earth to see Joseph Sisko and talk about Ben with him. Whilst there she decided to visit the O'Brien's. Miles hadn't really known what to say to her and had been evasive about what he'd known. He'd been relieved when she left only after staying one night. She had left early because she had rough idea for her revenge.  
  
For a while she had thought that she'd just take a TR-116 and shoot them. But that had passed, the only place that had seen use of a TR-116 had been DS9, and only one person, her, had really used it. She would be the only suspect and she'd be arrested and that wouldn't do. She had then dreamt up a wild scheme involving those Houdini mines from AR-558 but had decided that it was too complicated, too risky. No, killing them was too easy, for her revenge she was going to make sure that history cursed their names.   
  
So she had come back to the station and thrown herself into her work. She also volunteered to help the new science officer and engineers with the computer systems. She also published a paper on the murders that had happened on the station. She couldn't quite tell everything about how she had managed to come to the conclusion that it was Vulcan but what she did write had an interesting side effect. She was called out more to other homicides to help profile the killer or killers. As this required her to have greater access to security files she found herself promoted and given a much higher clearance.  
  
It was this clearance that gave her the first piece for her revenge. Whilst helping the new engineer go through Sisko's logs and files she had found a written order for him to release 80 litres of Bio-mimetic Gel. She checked and there was an inventory for that amount to be checked out. She deleted the written order and then proceeded to remove the inventory update in such a manner as to make it look like he had done it, without leaving any trace that she had done it. It took all of her predecessor's skills but she had managed it. A few hours later the engineer had found a discrepancy and initiated a search protocol. That had found the forged inventory record. Starfleet security had come in boots first. They had interview her and during that she had given them information about his involvement with Section 31 and how they had probably been the ones who he had gotten it for. They had then departed. A week later she over heard Kira talking with somebody about how he was under close scrutiny and it looked like he was going to be arrested. She knew that there was no real evidence to hold him on so they probably wouldn't arrest him but it did mean that he was unlikely to trusted ever again. Good. He resigned, he said to help more effectively, but everybody knew it was that or a long series of investigations. The effect would have been the same in either case, his removal as a Doctor. At least this way he could pretend he had morals.  
  
That still left Him.  
  
That opportunity had come a month late. A Romulan delegation had arrived on the station to inquire about the possibility of using the Wormhole. There had been a large formal reception for them in the wardroom. She'd stood around talking to some minor functionary who had been bored till she'd made a small joke about how she had always hated these things when she had been a diplomat. He perked up at that and had invited a few others over. One had asked if she had ever been to Romulus. She had stated, no but somebody else she knew had and he had described it for her. The one that she had pegged as the Tal'shiar officer asked who it was. She had started to respond with his name but had stopped. Hadn't HE been a gardener at the Cardassian embassy? Yes HE had and HE had mentioned something at the same time about poisonous flowers and the poisoning death of a Romulan Senator. The Tal'shiar officer asked if she was all right and she had smiled and made a self-depreciating remark about how she sometimes forgot where she was. She then told them about HIM and how HE had told her about the Orchids he had grown, because she had an interest in horticulture, and how they where poisonous. The Tal'shiar officer had asked what year her friend had been there, she gave him the year. She wondered if the Tal'shiar's reputation for revenge was overrated.  
  
Two weeks later she found out that it wasn't.  
  
She was asleep in her quarters when the news came. They didn't wake her. But at the start of the next shift it had been one of the items that had been brought up. Kira had announced it, hesitantly glancing at her when she stated that HE had been killed by a robbery gone wrong, something that was quite common on Cardassia nowadays. She asked about him. Kira hesitated again but then stated that he was physically fine but emotionally distraught. She hadn't really payed attention to rest of the briefing after that.   
  
Afterwards as the rest of the staff had shuffled out Kira had called to her, to stay. She sat there waiting for Kira to say what ever it was she was going to. Kira stated that she was going to go to Cardassia. Did she want to come? She had paused before answering that yes, of course she'd go, that she could put aside her personal feelings, and that she'd do what was necessary. Kira had watched her blankly for a few seconds before agreeing.  
  
She had beamed down with Kira and together they had walked to the small house that they had shared. On the way they passed the spot where HE had died. There where a few small items placed there, she idle wondered which one he had placed  
  
When they finally got there it had taken a while for him to answer the door. He'd been crying obviously, and for a brief second she regretted everything and thought about take him in her arms but then the first thing out of his mouth had been that he had loved HIM. With that any trace of pity she had vanished, he couldn't even thank them first? Did he think that the universe revolved around his concerns? That nobody else had lives to get on with? He looked at her then. She put on the professional face that all counsellors had, the one that allowed them to listen to tales of rape, incest, and horrific abuse without touching them, and stated that it was nice to see him, that she was here for him, that she'd get him through this. He had thanked her and quickly ushered them into the shack. She sat looking around the spartan room, her eye falling on what was not there. There was no sign of his previous life, no mementos from his time on the station. She hadn't expected any of her, but nothing about Miles or Jadzia? Guilt, she decided.   
  
They had stayed for a few days helping where they could. Seeing what HIS death had done to him, seeing him lost and broken, seeing him having everything ripped from him had made her glad. She left the name of colleague who was on planet if he needed somebody to speak to.   
  
For the next few years she had drifted between duty assignments never really fitting in anywhere. She didn't know what he was doing anymore but she still had her desire for revenge.   
  
Her next opportunity came shortly before the 10th anniversary of the Dominion War. Interviews with all the remaining DS9 staff had been arranged to get their reactions to it. The young reporter that they had sent to interview her had been nervous and hesitant when she first met him. He explained that he wanted hers and her predecessor's accounts if that was ok? She'd smiled and stated that it was fine, she'd come to accept her predecessor life and that she wasn't going to bite his head off if he asked about her. He'd visible relaxed and started asking questions about the first meeting between the Dominion and the Federation, the destruction of the Odyssey, the attempted coup by Leyton (she gave her own brief recollection from that period, 3 boring days standing on a street corner in Oslo), the war with the Klingons, the loss of the Station, the battles during the Black Months (she offered her own recollections as well) the retaking of the Station, the entry of the Romulans into the War, The taking of Chintoka (he had been very reluctant about that), the Siege of AR-558, the entry of the Breen into the war, the Final Battle. He asked what she thought had happened to Sisko? She answered that she thought he was with the Prophets. He had pressed her about what she thought that had meant but she merely shrugged and told him to ask the Kai. Then he asked about the others and that was the opening that she needed. She spoke of Kira and O'Brien and Worf and Quark and him. She drooped half truths and innuendos, shaded every answer whilst maintaining an innocent look (she found that looking younger then you where gave you some advantages) and basically hinted that he was more then he let on to and that he may have done things that he shouldn't have, hints about illegal dealings. She thought that she had hooked the reporter with the hints that she laid out. Now all she could do was wait.  
  
A few months later the same reporter had come back to her. He stated that he wanted to clarify some details. She agreed and let him in to speak to her. He asked about what he had said about him. She told him more half-truths and this time she had some about HIM as well. She told the reporter a comment that Sisko had made about needing the Romulans and how HE had been in the room, and few days later Senator Vreenak had been dead (she didn't think he had anything to do with it, but it sounded good) and questioned whether or not somebody who had believed in the old order could have truly accepted Damar as the Cardassian's leader. She couldn't give him dates or anything but really he didn't need those, taking her hints and filling in the gaps he should be able to spin it up.  
  
It worked. There was always an audience for conspiracy theories and after times of great upheaval and loss the public wanted to believe that it was the work of small group of evil men. So when the reporter first raised the question of HIS involvement in death of Vreenak the public responded and even better he had linked HIM to other things as well. This was more then she had hoped for! Then when he had linked him in as well even better! It caused some controversy but there where enough inexplicable periods of missing time for both of them for it to remain viable. She saw that some of the others had made comments on it but there was nothing that had really stopped the speculation.  
  
She stayed in Starfleet, always moving every few years, the promotions not coming any longer. But she really didn't care; she had nowhere in the universe for her and nobody to care about, since she had withdrawn from her brother.   
  
The Dominion war anniversaries rolled around and the historians visited her, she didn't mind, in fact it would make her ultimate revenge that much easier, always using her as a primary source. She read some of the books that they wrote and was interested to see some of the information that had been declassified. But her only joy was seeing that more and more they where being cast in a bad light.  
  
She died at the age of 87, young for a Trill but not that unusual for a Dax.   
  
Her next memory was of waking up in somebody else's body looking at medium sized Trill male and one of those weird little Guardians. The Guardian asked the other Trill what ship she had served on when she had been joined. He had hesitated before admitting that he had no idea. She answered, the Destiny, and that had been enough for the Guardian for he left them alone. His name was Rezil, he was a writer and he had longed to be joined ever since he was 10. He asked her questions and she was astonished to learn that she'd passed her aversion to coffee on. She then asked about what she'd been doing. Rezil looked unhappy but he told her what she wanted to know. He, as a writer, had been much better placed then she could have ever hoped for, and his work on the Dominion war had come to be the standard. In those works he had continued her revenge, and they where stripped of any virtue that they had. History was turning against them. She thanked him and quickly moved on telling him about Jake.   
  
She surfaced later looking at a similar scene, a Guardian and the new host. This one was a female with colouring similar to hers. The Guardian had asked her what her last memory was and she had replied that it was of Rezils zhian'tara. That had satisfied him. The new hosts name was Mazija, she was an Architect and she was married with two children. Mazija had thanked her for her counselling skills, apparently it had made raising her children easier. She asked about her plan and Mazija had shown her a Padd. It was history of the Dominion war and it's aftermath. And there it was.  
  
Elim Garak was listed as the murderer that had killed Senator Vreenak and also killed Legate Damar in an effort to eventually come to power him self. He was also implicated in several other incidents. As well there was an entry for Julian Bashir, the former Starfleet doctor who had been implicated in the loss of 80 litre of a prohibited substance, who had been an agent of a secret Starfleet death squad that had attempted genocide on the Founders, and been connected to an attempt by Cardassian terrorists to produce bio-weapons. As well there was his illegal genetic enhancements, which should have gotten him kicked out of Starfleet but hadn't, obviously at the behest of his controllers in the death squad. They where both regarded as traitors, as monsters, parasites and it was all that she had ever hoped for.  
  
This had all been gathered from Dax of course. There where few people around who could dispute her version. Odo? He hadn't been seen since Captain Kira's death. Sisko? When he had appeared he had bought momentous and cryptic messages for Bajor and the Federation. She doubted that he'd concern himself over the reputation of two dead traitors.  
  
The Klingons liked to boast about how "Revenge was a dish best served cold" but compared to the Trill they where amateurs. They considered revenge just as killing somebody, the Trill knew that the best revenge was to make sure that their name was cursed by all or erased from history.   
  
After 150 years Ezri Dax had her revenge. 


End file.
